Glorious Failure: How Richard Brooks Led The 1971 Daytona 500 With The Only Small Block Powered Car There


Glorious Failure: How Richard Brooks Led The 1971 Daytona 500 With The Only Small Block Powered Car There

There are people who defy convention by necessity. There are people who do it for fun, and then there are those that do it to prove a point, no matter how costly the potential victory may be. Drag racing folks seem to think that they have the market cornered on smart, rulebook-savvy racers. As you are about to learn, that couldn’t be further from the truth. There are scads of stories about racers flying the one finger salute to convention, race officials, and even common sense. Those guys go in straight lines, circles, and through the twisties. Take this as a motorsports version of “Profiles in Courage” with a side order of “Animal House.”

Mario Rossi at the 1971 Daytona 500

When you hear the name Mario Rossi, NASCAR is not the first thought that crosses your mind. It should be. The tough Italian from New Jersey was known as a hard-driving racer in his younger days before becoming an ace innovator, car owner, and crew chief.

Rossi’s “I’d rather fight than switch” attitude has earned him a spot on our list of The Defiant Ones. The 1971 Daytona 500 stands as the backdrop for Rossi’s bold stand against a rule revision that he found thoroughly unfair. By the end of the 1970 NASCAR season the so-called Aero Wars had reached their peak and Bill France had reached his tolerance level for the factory race cars. He sent down a mandate that for the 1971 season, any of the wild, limited-production, special aero-cars that the manufacturers had built, like the Superbird and Charger Daytona, would be limited to 305ci engines.

Obviously, running a tiny small-block against the fire-breathing Chrysler Hemi, as well as the big-block Ford and Chevy guys, would be suicide. You simply can’t give up 100-plus cubic inches and expect to compete. At least that’s what Bill France thought. Mario Rossi didn’t buy it.

Aside from being angered at France, Rossi was also torqued off with Chrysler who had put all of its factory money behind the Petty clan, leaving him high and dry. Rossi got with Keith Black to build the motor and for the era it was built in, the thing was a wonder. All accounts are that Black destroked a 340 to get down to the 305ci limit. The boys at Black’s shop called the little mill “the lunch box” because as one of the guys walked by the car he joked to the rest of the group that the motor looked so small it was like someone left their lunchbox under the hood.

Rossi rolled into Daytona with his driver Richard Brooks, undoubtedly to sneers and jeers. The guy was obviously nuts. Then they qualified the car eighth in the starting grid. Then they led five laps of the race. France had to be chugging Maalox.

Brooks got the car sideways and collided with Pete Hamilton, but still managed a seventh place finish. The car could have won the race and completed one of the greatest upsets in the history of organized auto racing. As best we know, that was the only appearance for the roaring little 305ci small block, but what a day it was.

Richard Brooks has been interviewed about the car and the little engine that wouldn’t die. He’s stated publicly that he watched the tach needle climb past 10,000 rpm on the straights. Insane.

It was the last race the car ever ran in. It was the only wing car on the track that day, and it would be the last car with a wing on it to appear in a NASCAR race until the Car of Tomorrow was introduced in 2007.

The Coke-sponsored #22 Daytona that had previously been run by Bobby Allison later was rebodied and became a dirt-track racer before being abandned. It now sits in Steve Atwell’s shop as a bare chassis and rollcage, awaiting restoration.

Rossi wth small-block


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8 thoughts on “Glorious Failure: How Richard Brooks Led The 1971 Daytona 500 With The Only Small Block Powered Car There

  1. jeff sykes

    My father, the late Bobby Sykes was the shop foreman at K B’s when this little motor was built. He more than likely built it and dyno’d it for sure. I remember seeing it before it shipped back east.

  2. Gary Smrtic

    The amazing stuff hot rodders do that don’t get proper acknowledgement, here’s a prime example.

  3. John Brown

    My personal thanks to Mario Rossi for giving the finger to France. I wish everyone well that is willing to buck the mainstream and do what can be done to get racing back to innovation instead of just playing follow the leader.

  4. Mario Rossi

    That chassis Atwell has is a 1966 vintage. I used my 69 built Nickels Daytona for the 1971 Daytona 500. I don’t know what Atwell has, but it’s not it.

  5. Jeff

    I bought two 1:24 model kits of the Nascar Charger Daytona back in the 70’s and the box art showed 305ci decals on the hood along with the 305ci stickers included in the box. I didn’t realize this was a one-race deal. I always wondered where this number came from and why it didn’t say 426ci.

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